


Old Pergament

by threedices



Series: Naruto rare pair bingo [18]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Age Difference, Awkward Crush, Bittersweet, Doomed Relationship, F/M, Naruto Rare Pair Bingo 2019, Star-crossed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 11:37:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20488265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/threedices/pseuds/threedices
Summary: He loved her for her kindness, not for her beauty.





	Old Pergament

**Author's Note:**

> For the squares: sick fic and ultra rare.

The last time Orochimaru saw Mito-sama, she was dying.

"You are one of my best students, Orochimaru. I will leave half of my scrolls to you."

It was rude to ask, but he was curious. "And the other half?"

She smiled as if she had expected it of him.  
"The other half I will leave to my successor. Take care of her for me, will you?"

He swallowed. He would have promised her the moon, for all the kindnesses she had shown him. "I will, Mito-sama."

Her hands were small when she put them over his white knuckled grip on her sheets.  
Her bones fragile like a birds, her skin like pergament.

"You are a good person. You can do it."

Orochimaru wasn't sure if she meant aiding her successor or surviving her death, but he nodded.

There were a million things he could have said now, but nothing seemed appropriate.

She was the only one where he bothered with such manners.

Mito-sama and his mother had been friends, but he had forgotten that long ago.  
Forcefully, because his hope soared higher, but she never gave any indication that she would ever return his feelings.

He couldn't simply stay away, so he swallowed them and learned what she taught him.

It was almost enough.

Now, with her dying, he wondered if he wouldn't shatter when she took her last breath.

She watched him with clear, dark eyes before tugging him closer.  
"You should know, it was never your fault."

Mito-sama leaned up with some struggle, shook off his hands when he tried to assist her and kissed him on the forehead.

Her lips were dry, soft, warm on his skin. 

Orochimaru felt frozen.

"I am sorry," she said.

"I am not," he answered, his mind slow and racing at the same time.

He had to take a critical mission and when he returned she was dead.  
Orochimaru didn't go and cry at her grave, but he never forgave Sarutobi-sensei for sending him away.

Maybe he could never quite forgive Uzumaki Kushina for it, either.  
He certainly didn't shed a tear, after the Kyuubi incident left her dead.


End file.
